Bring this list of questions with you to generate great “why this college” essay material.-What did you love about the visit? Ex: Meeting the professors, the students, learning about the curriculum, or other defining traits?-Make sure you visit the department you’re interested in majoring in to find out more about the professors, requirements, interesting classes, and other specifics that could work well.-What do the students seem like and what excited you about studying with them? Have you, for example, found your people? How so?

Supplement essays are sometimes more important than the Common App essay

“The other thing that's really important is their demonstrated interest essay, the ‘why this college’ essay. If you can cross out the name of the school and drop in a similar school, and the essay still works, that's a bad essay. If you’re applying to BU,and can you can cross BU out and replace it with Northeastern and Boston College, for example, and the essay still works, you have a problem. The ‘why this college essay’ has to be specific.”

In fact, just because it’s a shorter supplement doesn’t mean you should leave it for last. The “Why this college?” supplement is actually one of the hardest essays to answer. Ideally, you would’ve visited the campus, researched the school, and spoken to former alums to really know the answer. But not everyone has the privilege (or money) to travel to see schools, Luckily, I have some shortcuts for you.